Wednesday

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Wednesday, 22 February 2023 : Ash Wednesday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today marks the beginning of the season of Lent with this commemoration of Ash Wednesday. On this day as we receive the imposition of ashes on our forehead, we are all reminded of the fickle nature of our existence in this world, and how we are not meant to last forever in our current life. Eventually, we shall reach the end of our lives and existence in this world and we shall be made accountable for our lives and how we have lived them. And unless we remain vigilant and keep in mind the commandments, the precepts and the Law of God, we may end up falling into the wrong path, tempted and swayed by sin and evils all around us. Hence, that is why we have this season and time of Lent to help us to reorientate our lives and redirect our attention and focus back towards the Lord once again.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Joel, we heard of the Lord calling upon His people to return to Him, to entrust themselves once again to His providence, love and grace. We heard the Lord calling on all the people to repent and turn away from their many sins and wicked ways, and how He is truly merciful, compassionate and filled up with great and most generous love for each and every one of us. According to historical evidence and signs, the prophet Joel lived during the time after the destruction of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, the exile of the remnants of the people of God to distant lands of Assyria and Babylon. Hence, what the Lord spoke to His people through the prophet Joel was a reminder that despite all the wicked things that the people had done, ultimately, His love for them still prevailed.

Yes, the Lord truly loves all of us, His people, His children and all those whom He has cherished. He did not create us all in order to destroy or punish us, but it was by our own disobedience and sins which we have separated and sundered ourselves from the fullness of God’s love and grace. God still loved us regardless, as He despised our sins and wickedness, but not us personally. What He wants us to do is to distance ourselves from those sins and wickedness, and to turn away from all the rebellious and sinful attitudes that are unworthy of Him. If only we can embrace His love, compassion and mercy once again, we will receive the fullness of His forgiveness and grace, and we shall be lifted out of our predicaments, troubles and trials in life. He has always promised us all that He will care for us and liberate us from our troubles, and He has indeed fulfilled it all.

In our second reading passage today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, we heard about the Apostle speaking to the people of God regarding the salvation that God Himself has brought upon His people. St. Paul reminded us all how the Lord has sent us His own beloved Son to be our Saviour, and to provide us with the sure and guaranteed way out of the darkness and the predicaments of our lives. He showed us all the proof and manifestation of His ever enduring love for us through His Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Through Him, all of us have seen the light of God’s salvation, and therefore we are reminded today at the beginning of this season of Lent, that having seen and received the love of God shown to us through Christ and all that He has done for us, even to the point of enduring all the sufferings for us, and dying on the Cross, we are all called to return to the Lord once again with faith.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples and followers regarding the matter of fasting and why one should be fasting and how they ought to be fasting in the right manner. Contextually, at that time, the people of God especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had not been living their lives with genuine faith, as they were doing all those things like fasting and even almsgiving for appearances, fame and praise by others. The Lord Himself often criticised the Pharisees for parading themselves and their piety before others, showing off just how faithful and dedicated they were to God, so that they could be praised by everyone and be esteemed and respected as they desired. That is why, He told His disciples and hence all of us that whatever we do in life, we have to do it out of genuine faith in God and because we truly love God and His people, our fellow brothers and sisters.

During this season of Lent, we are all called to genuine conversion of heart and to rediscover once again the love that we ought to have for God, to put our trust once again in Him and to renew our commitment to Him, distancing ourselves from the wickedness of the world and from the corruption of sin, and coming to Him seeking for forgiveness from our many faults. As I mentioned earlier on, God truly loves each one of us, and while He despises our sins, He truly wants us to be reconciled to Him, and this season of Lent is the perfect opportunity and time that He has given us again and again, for us to spend in reflecting upon our lives and think carefully of what we should be doing moving forward in life. Should we continue to walk down the path of sin and rebellion against God, indulging in the many worldly vices and temptations? Or should we instead seek the Lord with renewed vigour and zeal?

This Lent, all of us are called to spend more time with God, to be more faithful and committed to Him, and the practices that the Church has called us to do this Lent, which includes the fast and abstinence we ought to do today on this Ash Wednesday, as well as greater love and charity, generosity and almsgiving, all these should be done because we have the desire to love God more, to come closer to Him and be reconciled with Him, and not because we want to be recognised and praised in our faith, as the Pharisees had once done. That is why we are reminded today that our actions and observances of Lenten practices should be done out of focus on the Lord and the Lord alone, and not to satisfy our greed and worldly ambitions, or to gain us fulfilment and good feeling. This Ash Wednesday is a good reminder of this need for us to turn back once again towards God with faith.

Today, on Ash Wednesday, as we have ashes imposed upon us, on our head or on our forehead, let it be a reminder for us that we are all sinners in need of God’s healing and mercy, and let that ash not be a symbol of pride, for us to show off our faith to others. Instead, the ash should be a reminder instead of our humility and our need of help and regeneration from God, that as we rend not just our bodies, but also our hearts, minds, our souls and our whole beings, we commit ourselves to the Lord into a whole new existence that is focused and centred on Him. Let the ash be the commitment that we make to distance ourselves from our sinful past, ever reminded of our mortality and how sin has led us down this wrong path. And let us all rise again from the ashes, through our commitment to live our lives with greater faith and confidence in God, from now on.

Hence, as we enter into this season of Lent, let us all rediscover the love we ought to have for God, putting Him once again as the centre and focus of our lives. Let us also nurture the same love that we should have for our fellow brothers and sisters all around us, as God has also called us to be generous in loving one another, and we ought to do it unconditionally and willingly, not because we seek for benefits or return of what we have given. Let us all make good use of this time and season of Lent, and may all of us have a great experience in our preparation throughout this blessed time, that we may grow ever closer to God and be worthy to receive the fullness of His grace and love. Wishing us all a most blessed, holy and fruitful Lenten season. Amen.

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Wednesday, 22 February 2023 : Ash Wednesday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 6 : 1-6, 16-18

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Be careful not to make a show of your righteousness before people. If you do so, you do not gain anything from your Father in heaven. When you give something to the poor, do not have it trumpeted before you, as do those who want to be seen in the synagogues and in the streets, in order to be praised by the people. I assure you, they have already been paid in full.”

“If you give something to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your gift remains really secret. Your Father, Who sees what is kept secret, will reward you. When you pray, do not be like those who want to be seen. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues or on street corners to be seen by everyone. I assure you, they have already been paid in full.”

“When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father Who is with you in secret; and your Father Who sees what is kept secret will reward you. When you fast, do not put on a miserable face as do the hypocrites. They put on a gloomy face, so that people can see they are fasting. I tell you this : they have already been paid in full.”

“When you fast, wash your face and make yourself look cheerful, because you are not fasting for appearances or for people, but for your Father Who sees beyond appearances. And your Father, Who sees what is kept secret, will reward you.”

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Wednesday, 22 February 2023 : Ash Wednesday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

2 Corinthians 5 : 20 – 2 Corinthians 6 : 2

So we present ourselves as ambassadors in the Name of Christ, as if God Himself makes an appeal to you through us. Let God reconcile you; this we ask you in the Name of Christ. He had no sin, but God made Him bear our sin, so that in Him we might share the holiness of God.

Being God’s helpers we beg you : let it not be in vain that you received this grace of God. Scripture says : At the favourable time I listened to you, on the day of salvation I helped you. This is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation.

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Wednesday, 22 February 2023 : Ash Wednesday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 5-6a, 12-13, 14 and 17

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

For I acknowledge my wrongdoings and have my sins ever in mind. Against You alone have I sinned; what is evil in Your sight I have done.

Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Give me again the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. O Lord, open my lips, and I will declare Your praise.

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Wednesday, 22 February 2023 : Ash Wednesday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Joel 2 : 12-18

YHVH says, “Yet even now, return to Me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning. Rend your heart, not your garment. Return to YHVH, your God – gracious and compassionate.” YHVH is slow to anger, full of kindness, and He repents of having punished.

Who knows? Probably He will relent once more and spare some part of the harvest from which we may bring sacred offerings to YHVH, your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion, proclaim a sacred fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the people, sanctify the community, bring together the elders, even the children and infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his bed, and the bride her room.

Between the vestibule and the altar, let the priests, YHVH’s ministers, weep and say : Spare Your people, YHVH? Do not humble them or make them an object of scorn among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples : Where is their God?

YHVH has become jealous for His land; He has had pity on His people.

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Wednesday, 15 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the Lord through the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded again that God has always shown His love, kindness and compassion towards us, and He has kindly reached out to us, and blessed us all, especially those who are faithful to Him. God has always cared for us and He has never abandoned or forsaken us, despite our own frequent disobedience against Him and despite our stubbornness in doing what is against His will and His path, in indulging in worldly pleasures and temptations, leading to us constantly sinning against Him. God has always wanted to reach out to us and heal us from our afflictions, especially that of sin.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the aftermath of the Great Flood which happened to the whole entire world in the days of Noah, one of the early man, who was spared with his family through the Ark that God had told him to construct to safeguard and protect himself and his family. Contextually, we must understand that Noah and his family alone were still considered righteous and worthy among all the multitudes of people that existed back then. The rest of mankind were so wicked and corrupt, afflicted by the original sin of our disobedience and also of the sin of Cain, who murdered his own brother Abel, that God decided to cleanse the whole world with the Great Flood. Noah was instructed to build the Ark, which safeguarded him and his family, and many living things that God sent two by two into the Ark.

The people of God, instead of repenting from their sins, mocked and laughed at Noah, and refusing to believe in God. Hence, they were doomed by their own stubbornness and refusal to obey the Lord, His Law and commandments. Noah and his family faithfully obeyed the Lord, and followed Him in whatever He told them to do, and hence, they were saved from the destruction and gained safety in the Ark during the period of great calamity and destruction of the Flood. They were brought to the new world, cleansed by the Flood, in which they were the only survivors among all the children of mankind. Noah offered sacrifices to God, while God reassured him and all of us that He shall always remember His love for us, and not destroy us anymore by the Flood. The rainbow that appears after the rain is a reminder to God and to all of us of this promise.

This does not mean that God no longer pay attention or heed the wickedness of our sins. Instead, He showed us that despite our disobedience against Him and our persistent attachment to sin, He still loved us nonetheless and wanted to be reconciled with us. That was why He kept on sending us assistance, help and encouragement throughout all the way, and He did not abandon us all in the midst of the darkness all around us. He still kindly reached out to us and called upon us to follow Him, and to repent from our sins. He called on us to turn away from all the temptations and the sins that could have brought us deeper and deeper into the path towards damnation, and He wants us all to embrace His love, mercy and compassion, by which He has sent unto us His own beloved Son to be our Saviour.

That is what we have heard in our Gospel passage today, as we heard of the account of how the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, our Saviour, healed a blind man from his blindness, opened his eyes and made him to be able to see once again. Through that action, the Lord had restored the man who had been afflicted and suffered, and helped him to regain once again his joy and vision, and this is actually really fitting with what we have just discussed earlier on. That is because due to sin, each and every one of us have also become blinded, distracted and kept away from being able to see the truth of God and His love. Just like the blind man who was afflicted with his physical blindness, sin which is an affliction that affects our souls, our hearts, minds and our whole beings, has corrupted us and kept us away from being able to see the righteousness and love of God.

That is why God wants to embrace us and heal us just as He has once healed the blind man and many others, to bring us out from the darkness of sin, to lead us out from the corruption and the dangers of sin. The Lord has shown us His love and kindness, and touched our lives with His most compassionate mercy, so that all of us may have hope once again, and be filled again with joy, the joy and light of the Lord’s glory and resurrection, and of knowing that through Him, all of us have the assurance of eternal life and true joy. All of us are reminded that the path of sin leads to damnation and destruction, while the path of righteousness in God leads to the true happiness that one can gain in the Lord and through Him alone.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do our best to commit ourselves anew to the Lord, at every opportunities provided to us and in every possible areas where God has called us to do His will. Let us all draw ever closer to God and be committed to walk down the path of His righteousness and light, like Noah and his family had done, and like how God’s faithful servants, the innumerable saints, martyrs and all the other holy men and women of God had done all throughout the whole history. We are all called to be true to our faith in the Lord, to be filled with zeal and fervour in how we live our lives, that we may indeed be true Christians in all things and be good and inspirational role models to each other, and help inspire more and more people to be good disciples and followers of the Lord as well.

May God continue to strengthen and guide us in our journey so that each and every one of us may always be courageous and strong, in persevering in faith despite all of the challenges facing us, and despite all the trials and hardships that we have to endure throughout our journey of faith in life. May God bless our every efforts, good works and endeavours, now and always, all for His greater glory, and for the salvation of the world. Amen.

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Wednesday, 15 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 8 : 22-26

At that time, when Jesus and His disciples came to Bethsaida, He was asked to touch a blind man who was brought to Him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When He had put spittle on his eyes and laid His hands upon him, He asked, “Can you see anything?”

The man, who was beginning to see, replied, “I see people! They look like trees, but they move around.” Then Jesus laid His hands on his eyes again and the man could see perfectly. His sight was restored and he could see everything clearly. Then Jesus sent him home, saying, “Do not return to the village.”

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Wednesday, 15 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 115 : 12-13, 14-15, 18-19

How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the Name of the Lord.

I will fulfil my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. It is painful to the Lord to see the death of His faithful.

I will carry out my vows to the Lord in the presence of His people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, o Jerusalem.

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Wednesday, 15 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 8 : 6-13, 20-22

At the end of the forty days Noah opened the window of the Ark that he had built and let the raven out. This went off and kept flying to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.

Then Noah let out the dove to see if the waters were receding from the earth. But the dove could not find a place to set its foot and flew back to him in the Ark for the waters still covered the surface of the whole earth. So Noah stretched out his hand, took hold of it and brought it back to himself in the Ark.

He waited some more days and again sent the dove out from the Ark. This time the dove came back to him in the evening with a fresh olive branch in its beak. Then Noah knew the waters had receded from the earth. He waited seven more days and let the dove loose, but it did not return to him any more.

In the year six hundred and one, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the Ark and looked out and saw that the surface of the earth was dry. Noah built an altar to YHVH and, taking some of all the clean animals and all the clean birds, he offered burnt offerings on it.

YHVH smelled the pleasing aroma and said to Himself : “Never again will I curse the earth because of man, even though his heart is set on evil from childhood; never again will I strike down every living creature as I have done. As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease to be.”

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Wednesday, 8 February 2023 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani, and St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints and Holy Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are reminded that each and every one of us have been made good and perfect by God, and all of His Creation have also been good and wonderful, full of His grace and love, as all of His created things and beings are filled with goodness and His love for each one of us. However, it was because of our refusal to obey Him or listen to Him and His words that we have fallen into the path of sin. Due to our inability to resist the temptations of evil and worldly desires, and inability to restrain our pride and ego, we have ended up falling into the ever deeper trap of sinfulness and wickedness, and we end up slipping ever further down the slippery path towards damnation. Unless we then make a conscious effort to resist those temptations, how can we be ever more committed as Christ’s followers and disciples?

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis the story of the moment when God created our ancestors, the first Man, Adam, from dust of the Earth, in the Gardens of Eden, and later on shortly, the first Woman, Eve, from Adam’s own flesh and bone. Mankind were created in the very image of God Himself, and was the pinnacle of all of His Creation, made in His own likeness and filled with all graces and blessings. We heard how God was happy with everything He had created and how everything were good and perfect, filled with the great bliss of heavenly joy, and that is what we have always been intended to enjoy, from the very beginning, to be with God and to live forevermore in His loving presence, in the wonderful Eden, paradise that He has prepared for us, and that was what God has always intended for us all.

Yet, our ancestors chose to disobey Him, and to listen to the lies and falsehoods of Satan who disguised himself as a snake, tempting Adam and Eve with the false promises that if they were to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, then they would become like God, in knowing everything and in understanding everything. Thus, that was how we ended up falling into sin, as sin came forth from disobedience, from our refusal to listen to God, and from the malice that sprang forth from within us, from the pride and ego, the greed and the desires that we indulged in, and allowed to control us, and all those things led to us walking down the path of evil, of sin against God, of wickedness and evil. If only that we put more effort to restrain those desires, temptations and resist the pressures exerted on us to live in the state of sin, we could have still existed in the state of grace in Eden, and not to suffer all the pain and sufferings of this world.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the Lord speaking to His disciples and all the people assembled of the nature of how we all can be corrupted by sin and the wickedness that come forth from within us, from our hearts and minds, and not from what we take in from the outside, not from any food or any worldly things that we encounter and have in this world. This must be understood in the context of how back then, the Law of God as revealed through Moses and passed down through the generations to the people of God contained restrictions and prohibitions of the consumptions of certain food and items, which were considered as unclean and inappropriate to be eaten by the people. The Law itself prescribed that should anyone eat of those unclean food, then they themselves would be considered as unclean as well, and thus, had to purify themseelves and face the consequences.

The Lord highlighted that such a belief was erroneous, and the truth was that, the things which made us to become corrupted and wicked, all came from within us, as He pointed out that God did not create evil, and everything that God had created were good, perfect and wonderful. Even Satan himself when he was created by God was a great, brilliant and mighty Angel known as Lucifer, the brightest and most brilliant of the Angels. Unfortunately, his vanity and pride led him to disobey God and fall into wickedness and evil, as he aspired to rule over all the Universe and to sit on the Throne of God, in trying to supplant and overthrow his own Master and Creator. Thus, in the same way that Satan had fallen, our ancestors and all of us mankind had also fallen in the same manner as well. Our downfall into sin was caused by our vulnerabilities and succumbing into our internal misalignments from the path of the Lord, and from the wickedness within us.

That is why today, as we listened to these words of the Scriptures, each one of us are reminded to be vigilant over ourselves and our actions in life. We must be careful lest the temptations of pride, greed, desires and all other obstacles in our path and journey towards the Lord might end up leading us down the path of damnation and destruction. We are reminded that our ancestors had fallen into the trap of sin that Satan and all of his forces had laid before them, and the same traps and threats are facing us all as well. Unless we remain vigilant and strong in our faith, we may end up falling deeper and deeper into the wrong path, and may end up getting further and more distant from the Lord and His righteousness and grace. We are all called to reflect on our way of life so that hopefully we may realise just how much we need to repent from our many sins and evils.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us should be inspired by the examples shown unto us by two great saints of God, whose lives and dedication to God can inspire us to live our lives ever more worthily of Him. The Lord has presented to us on their feast days, the great saints, St. Jerome Emiliani and St. Josephine Bakhita. St. Jerome Emiliani was a great humanitarian and generous man, the founder of the Somaschi fathers, a group of priests and brothers committed to a holy life dedicated to God and to the people of God. He was remembered for his great piety and even more so for his great generosity and charity, particularly towards the sick, the hungry and the orphans. He spent a lot of effort in caring for those who were less fortunate and had none to care for them, establishing orphanages and hospitals, and many other institutions designed to help them find their way in life.

Meanwhile, St. Josephine Bakhita was a devoted holy virgin, who was once a slave hailing from the area now known as Sudan. She was abducted from her family in a very young age and was forced to be a slave, and was sold from master to master for many years, being tortured and abused by many of her masters, before finally ending up in the hands of the Italian Vice-Consul who was much kinder to her, and who eventually returned to Italy with St. Josephine Bakhita in tow. Eventually, after some more ordeal and hardships, St. Josephine Bakhita was declared a freedwoman and became a part of the Canossian sisters, as a convert and as a novice, eventually taking perpetual vow and dedicating her whole life to serve the Lord through the Canossian Sisters community that she was living in. She was remembered for her great love for God and others, and for her great and tender care and love for the members of her community.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be inspired by the good examples showed by St. Jerome Emiliani and St. Josephine Bakhita, our holy predecessors, and do whatever we can to glorify the Lord by our lives. Let us all purify ourselves from the wickedness of sin, by seeking God and His forgiveness, and by turning our back against our sinful past, embracing wholeheartedly the righteousness and grace of God from now on. May God bless us always, and may He bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours. Amen.